There have been a lot of firsts for us in the Niemann household lately with Lily. Tooth fairy visits, swimming lessons and the one that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time – the first haircut! Lily is almost five years old and her hair is FINALLY long enough for a trim. Lily loves reading Fancy Nancy books and after reading “Ooh La La! It’s Beauty Day” and doing many beauty treatments at home, she finally agreed to go with mommy and daddy to the salon. At first, she was a bit unsure of it all, so she had daddy get his hair cut first. She then had me get my hair done and after that, she was still a bit scared, but she agreed to let Barbara cut her hair if she sat on daddy’s lap and got to wear a fancy cape. As Barb worked her magic, Lily smiled and gave me the thumbs up sign. When she was beautified, she looked in the mirror, touched her hair before shaking her head to swing her curls, and then she said, “Ooh La La!” As we left, she smiled big, waved to Barb and in her delicate voice said, “Merci!” She checked herself out in the mirror all night and she’s still talking about how she can’t wait to get her hair done again at the beauty salon! I’m just thankful that it was a good experience and that I get this lil’ lock of hair for a keepsake. Means the world to me!

I’ve always loved reading books and poetry is something that has always given me a sense of calm while feeding into my romantic side. In the Spring, I always seek out a good book of poems and settle myself in nature to read and daydream. There’s something so peaceful about reading in mother nature, listening to the birds sing, and feeling the breeze through my hair and against my skin. It’s my little sanctuary. I’m so thankful for moments like these where I can just be in the moment and let my mind go without any distractions. As a mother and business owner, these times are rare, but always appreciated!

It was a crazy and long winter and I am SO thankful for some warm Spring evenings finally. I love that we can stay out playing longer now that the sun sets later in the day. Makes for some fun family times that I cherish. It’s these simple moments that I will always remember. Spring nights outside with my loved ones means playing, giggling, good food, good eats and plenty of joy to go around. For this…I’m thankful.

OK, first off, I have to say – I am NOT a wide angle gal when it comes to portraits at ALL. I used to own a much more expensive ultra wide angle lens and it mainly sat in my bag. When I did use it, I just didn’t love the results because the focal length did not fit my photography style, so I sold it without regret. I know many photographers that rock this focal length well and it suits them, but it just doesn’t work for my style of photography and therefore I do not see myself using this lens within my portrait business much at all. With that said though…I do like ultra wide angle for certain landscape, architectural and interior shots. I was going to rent the Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens for interior images of our house so that I could show more of the rooms while making everything look bigger. I ended up finding the one pictured above used for a good price, so I ended up buying it instead. I have a few shoots scheduled this year for businesses where I knew I’d end up renting this lens and I figured that I’d rent it again when we take our next vacation, so after doing the math, it made sense to just buy this lens. I’m SO glad that I made that decision! The day after my lens arrived, our real estate agent come to our house and I took pictures of our house. The next day, our house was officially on the market along with all the pictures I had taken. Everyone mentions how big the rooms look. We’ve had several people take a look at our place and they all mention the pictures and how well our house shows. With this market, who knows how long our house will be on the market, but I’m so glad that I have this lens to capture our rooms to the fullest. There is no way I would have been able to get those shots without this lens. I’m also thankful that I won’t have to spend money renting this lens in the future. I’m really looking forward to taking landscape photos with this lens. It captures the most amazing, dramatic, larger than life, skies in images. Sure, this is more of a fun lens for me that I will use time-to-time within my business, but I’m so thankful to have it added to my camera bag. After all…a girl’s gotta have fun!

Today I was cleaning the house and paused a bit when I picked up these lil’ German figurines. Memories just came flooding back. These belonged to Michael’s great aunt, Emma, who passed way this past year at the age of 100. When we would go to Emma’s house, Lily would go straight to the coffee table and start playing with these figurines. She was just fascinated with this boy and girl as a baby. I would try to get her to stop playing with them as I was afraid she’d break them and I knew that they are quite old. Emma would always tell me that it was OK. If they broke, it wasn’t a big deal. “They’re just material things,” Emma would say with a shrug. Emma was such a wonderful and kind lady and I learned a lot from her.  I’m so thankful that these figurines were passed down to Lily. They may be worn and old, but that’s what makes them so perfect. I don’t know the full story behind these, but they are quite sentimental to my family. Such a beautiful thing!

Every week I make 1-2 loaves of homemade bread. Nothing beats the taste of bread straight out of the oven! Growing up, my mom used to make bread on a regular basis and I carried on the tradition once I moved out on my own. I don’t make a big flour mess like I used to as a little girl (although my daughter does) and I now experiment with different recipes. I guess you could say that my bread making skills have matured along with me. It’s just one of those lil’ things that brings me so much joy and for that…I’m thankful!

Today I’m so thankful for modern medicine! My lil’ girl, Lily, came down with a temperature of 104.3 degrees and so off to the doctor we went. Thankfully she doesn’t have anything major, just a nasty ear infection that was causing her the peak of temps. Like her mommy, Lily’s allergic to some medicine, but at least there we have options and access to meds that brought down her temperature and is helping her ear infection as well. I hate seeing my baby sick. Makes me feel so helpless. Fortunately lots of hugs, kisses, cuddle time, liquids, cool baths and medicine is helping cure my lil’ one.

Shortly after Michael proposed to me, I received a book from some dear friends that I still cherish to this day. “Living Happily Ever After” is a book that sits on our sofa table and I like to read from time-to-time. The book features couples that share their stories of love. Some of the stories make me cry, but they all make me smile and appreciate the relationship that I have with my husband and our own love story. I’m so thankful that these couples have shared their stories and I really look up to them even though we’ve never met and I don’t know them personally. They have all had their ups and downs, but their love is everlasting and real. I find myself studying the pictures in the book  and I see the love in their eyes and body language is the same, if not stronger, now in their older age just as it was when they were younger . It’s so reassuring to know that love really can endure all. Michael and I always say that we can’t wait to grow old together and this book makes me look forward to our journey even more. I know that we’ll change in so many ways and we certainly won’t look the same, but I know that I will always recognize those eyes and I will always hold his hand and enjoy the simple things in life with him. Thank you so much Mark and Theresa for gifting me this book so many years ago. You have no idea how much this book means to me!